National Express West Midlands (NXWM) has launched what is claimed to be the UK’s biggest on-bus ticket-scanning system, having made the technology available on its fleet of 1600 buses across the region.
The system, which uses Masabi’s Justride platform and INIT‘s ticket validators, is now live across the whole network and is designed to reduce fraud and speed up boarding times.
NXWM has been working with Masabi since their introduction of mobile ticketing in 2016 but the QR technology was rolled out from November 2022. The operator reports that, since then, 21 million QR code-scans have been made via the National Express West Midlands mTicket app.
It adds that mobile ticketing has become increasingly popular with the mode now making up 25% of total journeys.
Daljit Kalirai, Sales and Partnerships Director at National Express West Midlands, says: “It couldn’t be easier – customers simply activate their mTicket in our app, get onboard and scan the QR code using our onboard card reader.
“The new mTicket QR scanning technology has been a really exciting project for us. Working collaboratively with our partners Masabi and INIT, we’ve been able to make several improvements to our scanners and mobile app, so our customers get the best experience possible.
“It will also help us crackdown on fraud so we can continue maintaining our low fares while making it even quicker and easier for our new and existing customers to travel by bus.”
Most types of tickets can be bought via the app in seconds and stored for use with the new barcode scanners which were retrofitted by INIT across the network in the space of six weeks.
Jens Mullak, Managing Director of INIT, says: “This new payment method speeds up boarding times because passengers activate their ticket before they board and then simply scan the stored QR code on our validators as they enter the bus. “National Express also benefits because they have visibility of their passengers’ movements when they scan their barcodes.”
Brian Zanghi, Chief Executive Officer of Masabi, adds: “The success of this initiative with National Express West Midlands is the result of the close partnership we have developed over recent years, helping to roll-out upgrades and improvements that continue to make everyday life easier for bus customers.
“The use of our barcode key schema to accelerate mobile ticketing adoption illustrates our ethos of the power of partnerships and open ecosystems to benefit local communities and the wider transport industry.”
